I always have to smile. Being asked about deer immediately brings to mind a gardening talk I was giving to a group of retirees. They asked about repelling deer.

A delightful lady who had to be in her 90s raised her hand, stood up and said: “Deer eat all my neighbors’ gardens but they NEVER touch mine.” Talk about an attention-getting intro! But the best was yet to come.

“Every night,” she said, “I make my husband go out and ‘mark’ our garden. The deer never come near us.”

OK.

It’s true trying coyote (and other wildlife) urine is a common remedy. It’s sold in many nurseries in rural areas. It’s one of the many suggestions to try on my “So You Want to Stop Deer From Eating Your Landscape” information sheet. (see below for ordering details)

These are all listed as “suggestions” because, truth is, once a deer has eaten in one spot, it will return to that spot and consume everything in sight before it realizes you’ve switch to a plant it’s not supposed to like.

So step one is to break that habit with temporary fencing.

The other problem is that deer will often eat the soft new baby leaves of plants they’re not supposed to like, plants they’ll avoid once the plant becomes well established. So protecting all new plants, and buying the largest plants you can afford, are two other good ideas.

The heat and drought may have destroyed much of what’s left (after our massive human invasions) of their native habitat. That’s why they’re always worse during extreme weather conditions.

Think like a deer. They are skittish and pretty savvy. But they’re also creatures of habit. They usually feed at night, or when you’re away from home. So how about a motion detector that will turn on a radio when the deer passes by?

My suggestion would be to talk to your neighbors. What do they have that the deer in your area won’t eat? Just remember deer appetites can change depending on the size of the plant, the area of the country and what’s available elsewhere. No plant is totally deer proof.

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